Rogers Sportsnet

April 09, 2019

Bob Cole went most of his 50 years of Hockey Night in Canada without having to deal with shootouts. His last game ended in a shootout. Who knows how he would have ended the broadcast but Cole ran out of time with the late games starting so soon.

The NHL Network tried to give Cole more time; maybe the Canadian audience got a slightly smoother transition.

Let's not have us remember too much for how it ended but remember almost everything before that happened.

CBC/Rogers did a nice job giving us a box full of Cole on the screen in overtime and the shootout. Kudos to Greg Millen who let Cole finish by himself.

The Winnipeg Jets did their best/worst to give away the "Norris" title in the last week of the season. I trust Ray Ferraro over his concern for the team.

Winnipeg has never won a division title in its NHL history. The chance to draw a wild card team in the first round and secure home-ice advantage for at least the first 2 rounds is the reward for a division title. The Jets even had the ROW tiebreaker.

Instead of home ice with the wild card Dallas Stars, the Jets have to get past the very-hot St. Louis Blues.

Winnipeg giving up 3-goal lead against NY Islanders on March 28, including a pair of goals in the last 2 minutes. The Jets blew a 2-0 lead against Colorado last week. If Winnipeg had won that game in OT, collapse or not, the Jets would be division champs.

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Montréal has a few chapters worth of why the Canadiens just missed the playoffs. The extended time without Shea Weber. The tough schedule down the stretch. The tough loss in Columbus on March 28. Paul Byron getting into a fight and missing key games. No second goal in Washington Thursday night.

The Habs had a good season and they should be proud. But getting 96 points and no playoffs is a hard drink to swallow.

The Montréal Canadiens is the only team with a positive goal differential to miss the playoffs.

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Ryan Poehling had a marvelous debut in Bob Cole's final game, scoring a hat trick in his first game. Poehling is now the third Habs player in history to accomplish that feat, along with Alex Smart in 1943 and Joe Malone (5 goals) in 1917.

Leon Draisaitl became the first Edmonton Oilers player to score 50 goals since 1986-1987 when Wayne Gretzky (62) and Jari Kurri (54) reached that feat. Yes, the Oilers did win the Stanley Cup that season.

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Mathieu Perreault was called for a penalty for Winnipeg early in the 1st period Saturday night, leading to a power play goal for the opposition. There was a player who fell near Perreault and Perreault didn't touch anyone. Yet the penalty was called. Let's hope those officials do not work the Stanley Cup playoffs. We've seen biased officiating against Canadian teams in the Stanley Cup playoffs on numerous occasions. Most of them are not that egregious but some are pretty close.

NHL Center Ice's primary advantage over NHL.TV is the intermissions content. TSN's Bob McKenzie spoke earlier last week about the idea of the Toronto Maple Leafs bringing up Michael Hutchinson to back up Frederik Andersen. Well, the Maple Leafs did give Garret Sparks a 10-day break. Hutchinson backed up Andersen in Montréal and will serve as the backup in Boston and at least the first 2 games of the playoff series.

As McKenzie noted, Sparks isn't eligible to play for the Toronto Marlies. Sparks will work with the goalie coach during the break.

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The NHL Network took the St. Louis feed late on Saturday afternoon. The shootout wiped out 17 minutes of the Rogers pregame. The U.S. channel did pick up Canadian feeds for both Hockey Night in Canada games. However, the NHL Network couldn't resist taking out the Rogers Sportsnet intermissions in the late game. I do remember the days when carrying a late HNIC game wasn't saved just for the final day of the season.

Rogers clearly doesn't like the Winnipeg Jets assigning Kevin Quinn and Jason York to the desert. Rick Ball and Drew Remenda would have been a nice treat for a crucial game for playoff seeding. Ball is supposed to be the late game play-by-play person next season on Hockey Night in Canada.

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The NHL Center Ice season-ending preview traditionally went to the last game of the season. Given the 3-week opening preview is now 1 week AND there is no midseason preview anymore, losing the last day is very sad. So we hoped to have CBC promos from the late game preview, but we don't.

Thanks to the NHL Network, we do have the early game CBC promos. Unfortunately, we only got 3 promos. This might be a new low, even for Rogers.

Kyle Bukauskas read the Street Legal promo. The Street Legal promo was for the season finale but we found out earlier on Saturday that the revival of the old CBC show is done so that was the series finale.

We realise that getting promos late in the 3rd period would have been problematic. Frontloading CBC promos is better than no promos at all.

April 05, 2019

There are 2 days left in the NHL schedule though the Canadian teams are off today.

NHL Network is carrying a Canadian tripleheader to make up for lost time. The channel starts in the late afternoon with Vancouver's final game of the year in St. Louis. The U.S. outlet will carry the CBC feed for Toronto-Montréal. The nightcap on the NHL Network is Winnipeg in Gary Bettman's second-favourite desert team, hopefully with a HNIC feed.

CBC will carry the classic Toronto-Montréal matchup with the final call for Bob Cole on the call in La Belle Province. The Battle of Alberta is the late game on CBC from southern Alberta.

CityTV handles the end of the Ottawa season at home with the team from the Ohio capital.

Rogers Sportsnet 360 and SNW carry the Winnipeg Jets in the desert home of Jets 1.0.

As you can see, the NHL Network did add the final Bob Cole telecast. This is the only Toronto-Montréal game the channel covered this year. Those with the NHL Center Ice free preview got to see Cole's last call in Winnipeg. They had a nice tribute to Cole as did we earlier in the week.

You can check out The National interview with Bob Cole within our tribute listed above.

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The 2019 NHL Draft Lottery is being moved up to the day before the Stanley Cup playoffs on Tuesday. NBCSN, Rogers Sportsnet, and TVA Sports will cover the proceedings at 8 pm Eastern. The Ottawa Senators have the worst record in the league so the Sens have a 18.5% chance of drawing the top pick, a pick that will go to the Colorado Avalanche. The worst that Senators pick can fall to is 4th place.

Vancouver and Edmonton have much slimmer chances to move up.

The best team not to make the playoffs have a 1.0% chance of getting the #1 pick.

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We feel quite sad about the loss of the Canadian Women's Hockey League. The league announced it was ceasing operations shortly after the Calgary Inferno defeated Les Canadiennes de Montréal to win the Clarkson Cup.

The CWHL had 4 of its 6 teams in Canada (Toronto Furies; Markham Thunder) as well as the Worcester Blades (MA) and Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays (China).

The National Women's Hockey League announced they would add franchises in Montréal and Toronto. The league currently has teams in Boston; Buffalo; Stamford, CT; Newark, NJ; and St. Paul, MN.

The NWHL is very east-dominant so there would be a concern over whether Calgary can keep a team, especially being league champs.

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We have often wondered if people who live in the Detroit area are aware of Canada right across the river in Windsor and the CBC. The Christine Simpson interview with Dan Petry made us wonder if Canada does make an impact in Detroit. Petry, who was a star pitcher for the Detroit Tigers, talked about the impact that Don Cherry and Coach's Corner made on him. Petry's son Jeff became a NHL defenseman with the Montréal Canadiens. In the interview, we get to see how excited Petry is to finally meet Cherry.

CBET/Windsor, good old Channel 9, had something to do with that story.

Renous, New Brunswick won Kraft Hockeyville 2019. The New Brunswick community beat out Rich Valley, Alberta; Saint-Polycarpe, Quebec; and Wilkie, Saskatchewan. The community or a nearby place will host a NHL exhibition game as well as getting $250,000 in arena renovations. Given the pattern, look for the Montréal Canadiens or the Ottawa Senators or both to be the teams in that battle.

We did inform InDemand that the Calgary Flames game on Wednesday night had been dropped by NBCSN. InDemand took its sweet time to make the change and add the game. InDemand has blown off a Canadian team or 2 in the final week of a season. ESPN+ also carried the game.

The Winnipeg Jets game Monday night in Chicago was the final ever NHL telecast on good old Channel 9 WGN-TV in Chicago. The local WGN feed has been available in Canada. All of the non-national games will air on NBC Sports Chicago as part of the new deal.

NBCSN spared us the unbearable Washington feed last night. John Walton is the Caps radio play-by-play person but he is pretty good, even with calling the hometown Caps. Joe Micheletti is one of the best U.S. colour analysts.

Chris Cuthbert was in St. Louis Monday night on NBCSN.

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Thanks to the NHL Center Ice free preview, we got CBC promos and a full list as well. The timely promo for the 2019 Canadian Screen Awards telecast was helpful. The Kim's Convenience promo ran right after an ad. The Red Bull Air Race preview and competition coverage started early Sunday morning at 1:30 am Eastern. We don't choose how the CBC uses their promos, but that was a bit of a stretch. With season finales being dominant, you have to be creative.

April 04, 2019

Oh baby. The 50 years of Bob Cole on Hockey Night in Canada started in radio in 1969. Cole switched to television in 1973 when CBC expanded its coverage. He served as the #1 play-by-play guy from 1980-2008.

Cole was the #2 play-by-play guy at the CBC at the end of its run in 2014. Under Rogers, Cole fell further down in the announcers chain. Rogers shut Cole out for the playoffs in spring 2018. The Rogers wrapup seemed designed to make it exactly 50 years for Cole.

These are the 16 games Bob Cole called this season for Rogers. The original schedule was supposed to end on December 22 but was extended to April 6. All of them are Hockey Night in Canada except where marked.

October 6 Montréal @ Pittsburgh, 7p+

October 13 Pittsburgh @ Montréal, 7p

October 20 Montréal @ Ottawa, 7p

October 27 Pittsburgh @ Vancouver, 10p

November 3 Chicago @ Calgary, 10p

November 24 Boston @ Montréal, 7p

December 1 NY Rangers @ Montréal, 7p

December 9 Calgary @ Edmonton, 9p*

December 15 Ottawa @ Montréal, 7p

December 22 NY Rangers @ Toronto, 7p+

January 5 Nashville @ Montréal, 7p

February 6 Ottawa @ Toronto, 7:30p**

March 9 Ottawa @ Boston, 7p

March 16 Chicago @ Montréal, 7p

March 30 Montréal @ Winnipeg, 7p

April 6 Toronto @ Montréal, 7p+

— Hometown Hockey; ** -- Wednesday Night Hockey; + — NHL Network

As we noted in the past, Cole served for a time as the news anchor for CBC in St. John's and would cover the NHL on the weekends. Republic of Doyle fans know Cole served as the voice of the republic on the St. John's-based CBC show.

Cole was the skipper for Newfoundland and Labrador to the curling Brier in 1971 and 1975. Cole was also a airplane pilot.

Given all that he has done and has lasted so long, we're not sure what Bob Cole does in retirement. Rogers would be gracious to let Cole contribute to special events such as Hockey Day in Canada — similar to how they use Dick Irvin Jr. — or on Hometown Hockey if they are in Newfoundland.

Cole could also work on a future Allan Hawco TV series shot on The Rock.

March 29, 2019

NBCSN did cancel the telecast of the Calgary Flames in Orange County on Wednesday night, but did add the Habs in the U.S. capital Thursday night. Hopefully, that will not include the horrible Washington announcers.

CBC showcases the Battle of Ontario from Ottawa. The late Saturday game has Vancouver hosting Dallas.

Citytv goes all-Canadian with the Habs in Winnipeg.

Rogers Sportsnet jumps in with a late Saturday game as Edmonton tries to hold off Anaheim at home. Hometown Hockey will be in Saskatoon, SK with Calgary knowing the way to San Jose. Ottawa travels to Madison Square Garden on Wednesday.

Rogers Sportsnet One will not be fooled on Monday as Edmonton has to wear sunglasses in the bright lights in the desert.

The NHL Center Ice free preview should be in progress.

Those in the Washington and Tampa Bay markets should get Bob Cole calling the Montréal Canadiens in Winnipeg on Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday night.

ESPN+ did well to carry the Nashville-Winnipeg game Saturday night but also to pick up the Hockey Night in Canada feed. Rogers went with John Shorthouse and Garry Galley. Rogers likely won't produce more than 5 series, if that, even if 4 Canadian teams make the playoffs. Shorthouse would be on the shortlist to expand beyond the primary four.

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The fact that the Calgary game in Anaheim got taken off the NBCSN schedule isn't a huge deal. The game only seemed to be on there to get Anaheim on U.S. television. The only obvious concern is that the U.S. channels will cover the Calgary Flames in the Stanley Cup playoffs with only a single early-season telecast for the team.

When Calgary was last in the playoffs in 2017, NBCU picked up the CBC feed for the whole series.

March 28, 2019

2019 may give Toronto Blue Jays fans a nice slice of the future with Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, and others shuffling in from Buffalo.

The transition might be a bit too rough for Blue Jays fans still pondering the recent past to back-to-back ALCS appearances.

Charlie Montoyo is the new Toronto manager replacing John Gibbons. The release of Gibbons seemed as mutual as a managerial firing can get. Montoyo comes from the Tampa Bay organisation. The idea of an occasional 4-man outfield is a symbol of new leadership in Toronto.

There will be enough contenders for left field led by Teoscar Hernandez and includes a few infielders. Kevin Pillar will be in centre field with Randal Grichuk in right field.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. is the logical shortstop but Freddy Galvis will handle SS while Gurriel will take over at 2nd base. Justin Smoak will handle first base. Perennial DH Kendrys Morales was traded to Oakland yesterday, a move to increase roster flexibility. 2nd and 3rd base will have a few people going back and forth, including Brandon Drury, Devon Travis (injured), and some guy named Vladimir Guerrero Jr. The latter won’t start on the Opening Day roster but he is only 20.

The Jays have suffered in the leadoff spot, hoping for Grichuk, Travis (injured), Billy McKinney, or anyone to excel at the top.

Russell Martin and Troy Tulowitzki will not be physically in Toronto but their salaries are still there. The Blue Jays ate most of Martin’s remaining salary in the trade with Los Angeles. Tulo’s money will be an albatross for some time.

The Jays non-tendered Yangervis Solarte, who became a free agent, lost SP Marco Estrada, and traded INF Aledmys Diaz to Houston for P Trent Thornton. Toronto signed starting pitcher Matt Shoemaker to a 1-year deal and acquired starting left-handed pitcher Clayton Richard from San Diego.

Canadian John Axford, who was traded by Toronto to Los Angeles at the trade deadline, is back with the Blue Jays, but currently rehabbing.

Marcus Stroman and Aaron Sanchez will anchor the rotation with Shoemaker and Richard. Ken Giles is the closer. Danny Jansen will be the starting catcher.

This season, you can enjoy all your favourite ballpark classics for $5 or less! Which items are you grabbing? pic.twitter.com/2sXIR5RnfJ

The Dugout Deals is a nice gesture. The sections for the deals are in 137, 239, and 536. If you aren't familiar with Rogers Centre, the sections are in and around the left field fair pole. 137 is in left-centre; 239 is around the left-field pole; and 536 is far down the left-field line but on the foul side of the pole.

Ben Wagner and Mike Wilner will handle play-by-play on the radio games with the flagship Sportsnet 590 The FAN (Toronto) and the Sportsnet Radio Network, which includes Sportsnet 960 The FAN (Calgary) and Sportsnet 650 (Vancouver). Scott MacArthur will host Blue Jays Talk after the games. The press release does not list a radio colour analyst; Siddall was the last regular analyst before replacing Gregg Zaun on the TV side in 2018.

You might have forgotten all of that since Rogers showed the opposing team feed for 8 of the 10 games from Florida. We rip on Rogers being cheap but this is low even for them. Rogers didn't even cover the Blue Jays game with the Canada Jr. team.

We noted the absence of the Toronto Blue Jays on ESPN last year. The channel reportedly will have the Jays on twice (at least) in 2019. The guaranteed game will be April 9 with the Blue Jays in Boston. Don't expect Toronto to be mentioned much since the game is the Boston home opener and the banner ceremony for the 2018 World Series champions.

Toronto will open at home against Detroit. The opener is at 3:37 pm today with starting times for the next 3 days at 7:07 pm; 3:07 pm; and 1:07 pm. The homestand continues April 1-3 with Baltimore in town at 7:07 pm; 7:07 pm; and 4:07 pm. The first road trip is a short distance in Cleveland April 4-7 at 6:10 pm; 7:10 pm; 4:10 pm; and 1:10 pm.

The free MLB Extra Innings preview should cover those home games. The home team feed might be the only option for some, so keep that first week in mind.

March 27, 2019

The theme of the 2019 Toronto Blue Jays in Montréal is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the birth of the Montréal Expos.

Buck Martinez and Pat Tabler mentioned Expos legends in attendance: Felipe Alou, Larry Walker, Claude Raymond, and Dennis Martinez. Other reports mentioned Steve Rogers. The Blue Jays announcers noted that the loudest ovation was for Felipe Alou, the manager of the 1994 Expos with the best record in baseball.

The Montréal Expos joined the National League in 1969 and played at Jarry Park on the city's north side through the 1976 season. The Expos played at Olympic Stadium from 1977 until the removal of the franchise after the 2004 season.

"Don’t have to say we need to be ready," Stephen Bronfman said. "We are ready."

Bronfman, the executive chairman of Claridge Inc. and son of the original majority owner (Charles) of les Expos from 1968-1990, is leading a group of Montreal businesspeople to bring a MLB team back to Montréal.

The #Brewers will be without Ryan Braun for the two games in Montreal against the Blue Jays. Sounds like he thought he had his passport with him but turns out he didn't. So, couldn't come to Canada.

All-star Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun didn't make the trip to Montréal. Tom Hardricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Braun forgot his passport and couldn't come to Canada. Manager Craig Counsell said Braun thought he had his passport with him in Arizona.

A lost passport does happen to the best of us, but could also serve as a "I don't really want to go" excuse.

Braun would have had a working passport to get into Toronto in April 2017, the last time the Brewers were in Canada. Braun played in both games at Rogers Centre.

Braun received a 65-game suspension by MLB in 2013 for performance-enhancing drugs.

Canadian Brett Lawrie is a part of the Milwaukee Brewers organisation, but Lawrie is in the middle of long-term rehabilitation with the club. Lawrie last played baseball with the Chicago White Sox since the middle of the 2016 season.

New Toronto Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo has some history with the Montréal Expos. Montoyo was a September call-up for the Expos in 1993. He was late in arrival to Olympic Stadium but delivered a game-winning hit with his first (of 2) major league hits. Montoyo met with the press sitting in the exact spot in the dugout where he sat as a player on that fateful day. Montoyo retired with a .400 batting average with 2 hits in 5 at-bats.

MLB Network ran a condensed version of Monday's game in a 2-hour, 50-minute timeslot. The channel's previous worst mark was 2½ hours of a potential 3-hour timeslot.

Rogers Sportsnet continues its shift to de-emphasize the Montréal element of the games. No interviews of past Expos. Arash Madani did speak about the Bronfman group and reunion, but not until the top of the 8th inning of Monday's game. The U.S. audience on MLB Network didn't see any of that limited coverage.

Buck and Pat had a nice interview with Richard Griffin, the new director of baseball media for the Blue Jays. Griffin had been with the Toronto Star since 1995. Griffin talked about his days working for the Montréal Expos from 1973 to 1995.

Eric Sogard had the game-winning hit in the 7th inning in Tuesday's game to give Toronto a split with Milwaukee.

The attendance was slightly down from last season. The series drew 46,984, down from 51,151 in 2018. The Monday-Tuesday pairings were expected to reduce the attendance from the 43,000-53,000 crowds the Montréal games grew when the format was Friday-Saturday.

March 25, 2019

The Toronto Blue Jays are back at Olympic Stadium in Montréal. This year, the Milwaukee Brewers are the team that will serve as the opponent. Milwaukee was the first opponent at SkyDome in 1989 back when the Brewers were division mates in the American League East with Toronto.

The stars from Montréal won't be a part of the action this year. Last year's on-field hero Vladimir Guerrero Jr. will miss the series with a Grade 1 left oblique strain. Russell Martin was traded in the off-season to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The games next week once again fall on Monday and Tuesday reducing the potential attendance. Then again, drawing 25,000+ on a weeknight for exhibition games is still impressive.

The games mark the 50th anniversary of the origin of the Montréal Expos that started play in the National League in 1969.

Rogers Sportsnet will carry both games live (except on SNW). The Tuesday telecast also airs on Rogers Sportsnet One. MLB Network carries the Monday game from Montréal tape-delayed Tuesday morning at 6 am Eastern. The U.S. channel will carry the Tuesday game live at 7 pm Eastern.

March 22, 2019

The NHL Network jumps back to the CBC feed with Hockey Night in Canada from Toronto. The channel picks up a surprise Montréal game on Thursday night in the Ohio capital on what should be the start of the NHL Center Ice free preview.

CBC goes Original 6 with the New York Rangers in Toronto in the early game. Calgary goes west to Vancouver in the nightcap.

Citytv goes to Montréal on a Saturday night with Buffalo in town.

Rogers Sportsnet has Hometown Hockey festivities are in Enoch Cree Nation, AB with the Habs in the U.S. south but not too far south. The Maple Leafs are in Philadelphia on Wednesday night.

Rogers Sportsnet One is helpful on Wednesday with the Calgary Flames welcoming Dallas.

Rogers Sportsnet 360 as well as SNW and SNP embrace P.K. Subban and his friends traveling to Winnipeg on Saturday night.

Rogers Sportsnet 360

NHL Center Ice free preview

The NHL Network didn't think much of Calgary-Winnipeg but Rogers was smart enough to put its top team on the game. Fortunately for U.S. viewers, ESPN+ carried that Hockey Night in Canada game.

Rogers whined for some time that viewers didn't know where games were. They put their #1 team on a game only on Sportsnet West and Pacific, a striking move for Rogers.

Another nice move was Cassie Campbell-Pascall working colour with Bob Cole in Montréal. Rogers had a good roundtable on women in hockey. Campbell-Pascall had strong words over the need to nurture potential hockey analysts regardless of gender.

In watching Kendall Coyne Schofield in Edmonton on NBCSN, I was reminded of those early games Campbell-Pascall called on CBC, mostly with Mark Lee. She is the fill-in for Kelly Hurdey on Calgary Flames telecasts on Rogers Sportsnet West. I thought she was good from the start but she had greatly improved.

Coyne Schofield had moments of sharp analysis mixed with awkward moments and a few too many "awesome" mentions. To Campbell-Pascall's point, you have to give analysts time and experience to develop.

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The 2019 Heritage Classic is still on for October 26 at Mosaic Stadium in Regina. The press conference gave us the news that the home team has flipped from Calgary to Winnipeg.

Tickets will go on sale on April 25. A pre-sale priority will be given to Winnipeg Jets and Calgary Flames season-ticket holders.

The Toronto-Nashville matinee rebroadcast got dumped for a press conference for the 2020 Winter Classic on Wednesday.

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The Hometown Hockey game will also air on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network with the audio in the Plains Cree language. The Hometown Hockey crew and festivities are in Enoch Cree Nation near Edmonton in Alberta.

Montréal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price's mother is the former chief of the Ulkatcho First Nation.

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The first half of the Rogers pregame was lost to the U.S. audience for a Charlottetown-Halifax Quebec Major Junior Hockey League game. The missing content looked to be previews of the primary games i.e., not the one in Montréal.

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The Calgary-Winnipeg telecast made good use of Rush's Limelight. There are 3 possible connections: the "lime" in Limelight ties in the green of St. Patrick's Day; Calgary Flames and Winnipeg Jets in the limelight of the NHL; or the Junos that were held the next day in London, ON.

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The Simpsons had a bit of fun with Canada and the Calgary Flames in last week's E My Sports episode. Bart is the leader of the Evergreen Terrors video game team that gets past its first opponent to play the Calgary Lames in the North American final. In a valiant comeback, the Terrors get past the Lames.

When the Lames think they are going to win, they take maple syrup and try to throw it on the coach. The maple syrup is so thick that it never reaches the coach. The other major Canadian joke is that the officials tell the Canadian team they are out. They don't know they are out until the official says "oot."

The Simpsons airs on Global in Canada via Fox in the United States.

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We have noted in the past that Boston's Zdeno Chara leads a charmed life with referees and the league. Chara lifted the stick of Winnipeg's Mark Scheifele to the rafters in a game last week. A penalty would have been called on most NHL players, but not Chara, of course.

NBCSN has a "Star Sunday" to market NHL players. Mark Stone was opposite Connor McDavid. Liam McHugh said about Mark Stone "not exactly a household name here." This exposes the hypocrisy of NBCSN not carrying Ottawa and Vancouver. If Elias Pettersson wins the Calder Memorial Trophy, NBCSN still won't know who he is.

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NHL Network went with the Chicago feed for the Vancouver game. 2 of the 3 U.S. telecasts for Vancouver have been against Chicago.

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NBCSN gave us the uninspired choice of Los Angeles play-by-play guy Alex Faust and the cluelessness of Brian Boucher for the Winnipeg game in Orange County Wednesday night. Kendall Coyne Schofield isn't as consistent as Boucher but at times, she is a better analyst.

March 15, 2019

NBCSN carries the Edmonton Oilers visiting the bright desert lights on Sunday night. The channel also has fun with the Winnipeg Jets in Anaheim in the late game on Wednesday night.

The NHL Network shows the Vancouver Canucks for the first time since November 2 as they travel to Chicago Monday night.

CBC starts out Saturday night with the Battle of Ontario in the nation's capital. Edmonton visits the lesser of Gary Bettman's desert children in the nightcap.

Citytv gets Bob Cole with the Hawks in La Belle Province on Saturday.

Rogers Sportsnet enjoys an all-Canadian matchup with the high-flying Calgary Flames in Winnipeg on SNW and SNP. Hometown Hockey from Lethbridge, AB has Vancouver in the Lone Star State. The regional channels jump in on Vancouver's trip to the Windy City on Monday. Wednesday Night Hockey involves the shortest Maple Leafs road trip to Buffalo.

Rogers Sportsnet One is all-Edmonton all the time following the Oilers to St. Louis on Tuesday and hosting Columbus on Thursday.

Those in the Washington and Tampa Bay markets should get Bob Cole and the Citytv feed from Montréal on Saturday night.

Rogers Sportsnet One

How much history did U.S. television give to Canadian teams last week. This was the first time since we've kept records (late 2010) that:

a Hockey Night in Canada game was shown from Alberta

2 games from Alberta in the same week

2 games from Canada shown in the same day on NBCSN

The NHL Network has been reluctant to show teams from Alberta and far more so when those games are in Alberta. The home/road numbers are ridiculously embarrassing. NBCSN has embraced Edmonton, mostly on the road. The channel has only shown 1 regular season game from Calgary and that was last October (The 2011 Heritage Classic was on Versus and was a required telecast).

The attention to Alberta isn't even on the team currently in a playoff spot in the division. So yes, Connor McDavid is the first, second, and third star, er, reason.

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NBCSN brought in a top team for the big game in Toronto. Doc Emrick rarely gets to Canada, though he was in Winnipeg in October. Jeremy Roenick rarely does game analysis; like Eddie Olczyk, he has Chicago ties. Pierre McGuire was at TSN headquarters for the trade deadline coverage late last month.

The channel was really nice for the late game in Edmonton giving us the TSN duo of Chris Cuthbert and Ray Ferraro along with Kendall Coyne Schofield.

We even got a O Canada from Edmonton, a highly rare moment on NBCSN in the regular season.

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Bob Cole got his first game in over a month after going more than a month before the previous game. This was the first of Cole's final 4 games.

You got as much attention as the Ottawa Senators did on the Rogers pregame. Yes, the Sens are out of it on so many levels, including being eliminated from postseason contention this week, but Rogers should find a way to update viewers.

The NHL Network went out of their way to remove Bob Cole from the highlights. The channel uses airs audio and video of the team scoring the goal, but took Cole out of all but a single audio clip. The channel is steering its coverage away from Bob Cole games to the finish, though the April 6 game might be on the channel.

Chris Cuthbert will work with Shane Hnidy in the desert Sunday night for the Oilers game on NBCSN. Hnidy was the colour analyst for the Winnipeg Jets on TSN3 before jumping to Las Vegas. Given the possibilities, this is a good combo, especially with some of the crews calling Edmonton games on the channel earlier this season.

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We got a healthy dose of CBC promos with a Hockey Night in Canada game and 2 rare Sunday matinees on the NHL Network.

The Junos will air this Sunday with host Sarah McLachlan. The short track promo aired just before the 2nd period with Gene Principe reading the copy. We pointed out last week how the promos were supposed to be within game action.

The Street Legal promo after an in-game ad, another violation. The telecast ran back-to-back mentions with 2:01 left in the 3rd period.

The late game might not have had all 6 promos, unless John Shorthouse went out of order. The Schitt's Creek promo aired but not Diggstown afterward.

The Schitt's Creek promo serves as a helpful promo since the program also airs on Pop TV.

March 08, 2019

NBCSN has a pure Canadian doubleheader for Wednesday Night Hockey. Chicago makes its only visit to Toronto in the early game (the coverage includes your humble narrator) and a rare Edmonton home game on U.S. TV with New Jersey in town.

The NHL Network recognizes that Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid is worth picking up the CBC feed for Hockey Night in Canada.

CBC has Toronto in Edmonton for a local 5 pm start. The newest desert team goes north to Vancouver in the nightcap.

Citytv follows the Ottawa Senators to Boston on Saturday night.

Rogers Sportsnet has Hometown Hockey from Steinbach, MB with the local Winnipeg Jets against Alex Ovechkin in the U.S. capital. Wednesday Night Hockey is the aforementioned game in Toronto.

Rogers Sportsnet One helps out with a game Sunday night as that new desert team travels to Calgary. The channel will also have the Wednesday late game in Edmonton that will be shown in the U.S.

CBC

City

SaturdayOttawa @ Boston, 7p

Rogers Sportsnet

SundayWinnipeg @ Washington, 7pWednesdayChicago @ Toronto, 7p

Rogers Sportsnet One

SundayLas Vegas @ Calgary, 9:30pWednesdayNew Jersey @ Edmonton, 9:30p

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Trade your 3 best scorers, then fire the coach. Guy Boucher was a godsend to the Ottawa Senators when he first arrived. Boucher had a good track record, made the Senators a top defensive unit, and nearly led them to the Stanley Cup final.

The Senators have enough self-inflicted wounds to jump on that bandwagon, but the timing of the decision looks horrible on top of the trades and the self-inflicted screwup that has been trying to get a downtown arena.

Former After Hours co-host Marc Crawford will do a fine job as the interim coach. I feel sorry for Anthony Duclair. This is a young man with a lot of talent but has had a few problems. Boucher was really good about Duclair to "put the counter back at zero." Duclair will be on his 3rd Ottawa coach in the fall if Crawford isn't hired.

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The Rogers pregame aired on time in the U.S. The NHL Network had a late Saturday afternoon game and has another one tomorrow.

Kelly Hrudey helped out Scott Oake in Calgary for the Jarome Iginla retirement ceremony. Brian Burke substituted for Hrudey. Now we need to get Nick Kypreos out of the studio every week and get Brian Burke on the set.

We talk about the rarity of Hockey Night in Canada feeds in the second half of the season. With a bit of juggling, you could have seen 3 HNIC games on U.S. soil this past weekend. The NHL Network had the Maple Leafs, NHL.tv carried the Habs game, and ESPN+ actually carried the HNIC feed for the game in Calgary.

NHL.tv is great if you don't care about the ads or intermissions. They offer some free games, such as the Canadiens last Saturday. The cool part is you pick the feed so you could pick TSN5 if Edmonton plays Ottawa and even select the French language feed if you comprend Francaise.

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NHL Network used the Buffalo feed for the Oilers game Monday night. The Sabres feed is one of the best U.S. feeds. Detroit and Buffalo might be the best. Dallas had a good one when Dave Strader was still alive.

Chris Cuthbert worked for NBCSN in Orange County late on Wednesday night.

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We did get 6 CBC promos but the timing of them left a lot to be desired.

The letter and the spirit of the CBC promos is during the period. We occasionally see a promo before a period. Saturday's game had 3 promos before a period. There were 0 promos in the initial period. Jim Hughson finally gave us a promo before the 2nd period. Kyle Bukauskas ran off back-to-back promos to start the 3rd period. Back-to-back promos are also a violation of the letter and the spirit of the CBC promos.